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No. 557,628. PtenmlApr. '1, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HER-BERT L. VIETTS, CF THCMPSONVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE IVESTFIELD PLATE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 557,628, dated April 7, 1896.

Application iled February 7, 1896. Serial No. 578,388. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT L. YIETTs, a citizen of the United States, residing at T hoinpsonville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Handles, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the construction of handles designed for coiiins, caskets, boxes, and the like receptacles intended for receiving somewhat heavy contents and which have to be lifted and carried by hand.

The object of the invention is to construct a neat and attractive handle for such receptacles which shall be very simple and strong, thereby producing a handle that can be appropriately ornamented for coffins, caskets, and the like that will not break when in use,

r"thus eliminating the danger of dropping the receptacle with its contents.

To this end the invention resides in a structure having a handle-bar held by folding steel arms that are connected with hard -metal plates for sustaining all of the weight of the load, the steel arms being protected by ornamental covering-shells of soft metal and the plates being shielded by soft-metal escutcheons or face-plates of appropriate design, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, Figure l is a front view of one end of the handle. Fig. 2 is a view of the back of the same; and Fig. 3 is a section of the handle with the bar .opened out, the section being taken through the middle of the escutcheon.

In the views, 1 indicates the escutcheon or face-plate, of which there are two or more for each handle. These escutcheons are made of any cheap soft metal in appropriate ornamental designs and provided with any desired number of perforations for the passage of the screws that attach the handle to the cofiin, casket, box, or other receptacle.

Perforated bars or plates 2 of hard metal are located in the hollow backs of the escutcheons with their perforations coinciding with some of the perforations through the escutcheons, so that the holding-screws will pass through the escutcheons and through these holding-plates of hard met-al when the handle is secured in position. These plates are preferably held in place by means of lugs 3, formed on the backs of the escutcheons in such manner as to grasp the ends of the plates.

The articulated arms are formed of sections 4 and 5, cut or stamped to shape, of thinhard sheet-steel or similar strong metal and held together by a pivot 6. The ends of the sections 4 near the pivots are provided with shoulders 7, while the ends of the sections 5 are provided with stops 8, that are adapted to abut against the shoulders on the other sections when the handle is fully opened, as shown in Fig. 3, to prevent further opening of the articulated arms. The shoulders 7 are easily formed by cutting away portions of the ends of the sections 4 around the pivots, while the stops 8 are preferably formed by bending over portions of the ends of the sections 5. Of course when the stops 8 abut against the shoulders 7 as the sections turn on their pivots they cannot open any farther and the strain at the joint is borne by these parts. The pivot- 6, besides passing through the sections 4 and 5, also passes through hubs or ears 9 on the soft-metal escutcheons; but these hubs simply retain the pivots and the ends of the sections of the arms in place. They do not support any o f the weight of the load.

The inner ends of the sections 4 are secured to the plates 2, this preferably being accomplished by perforating the ends of the sections and slipping them upon the plates, and the outer ends of the sections 5 are perforated and slipped upon the handle-bar 10. The handlebar may be formed of a thin tube ll reinforced by a core l2 of wood or other material and ornamented with any appropriate tips 13.

Over the outer sections 5 of the articulated arms are placed the shells 14. These shells are preferably cast to shape of cheap soft metal with parts that will inclose the handlebar each side of the ends of the arms and which can be held thereto by screws 15, so that the arms and shells cannot move from place on the handle-bar. The inner ends of the shells are rounded and arranged to move in and out of suitable openings in the escutcheons to produce the eect of a knuckle-joint.

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These inner ends of the shells are provided with perforated ears 1G, through which the pivots 6 pass, and thushold the shells in place.

A handle constructed in this mann er is very strong, for the articulated arms are arranged so as to sustain all of the Weight when the handle is opened and the load is being lifted. The hard-steel sections of the arms are arranged so that their width is in line With the lifting strain, which comes upon the handle, and the shoulders on one and the stop-lug on the other are located so that they engage each other in line with their greatest strength. The holding-screws that attach the handle to the coffin or other receptacle pass through the hard-metal plates, and, being connected with the ends of the arms, the load is transmitted from the arms through these plates directly to the fastening-screws and not through any soft metal.

This handle is neat in appearance, for the thin steel arms and the hard-metal holdingplates are shielded and protected by the softmetal arm-shields and escutcheons. Thus a strong handle can be provided which Will sustain heavyT loads Without danger of giving away and which can be made appropriately ornamental for the purpose required.

I claim as my inventionl. A handle consisting of soft-metal escutcheons provided With screW-perforations, hardmetal holding-plates located back of the escutcheons and having screW-perforations coinciding with perforations through the esA cutcheons, hard-metal articulated arms connected with the holding-plates, soft-metal arm-shells covering the outer sections of the arms,and a hand-bar connected with the outer ends of the arms, substantially as specied.

A handle consisting of soft-metal escutcheons provided with screW-perforations, hardmetal holding-plates located back of the escutcheons and having screW-perforatons corresponding With perforations through the escutcheons,hard1netal arms formed of sections pivoted together, one of Which sections is provided With a stop and the other with a stopping-shoulder, the inner ends of said arms being connected with the holding-plates and the outer ends being perforated, and a handbar passing through the perforations of the outer ends of the articulated arms, substantially as speciied.

HERBERT L. VTETTS.

Titnesses ll. R. XVILLIAMS, E. J. HYDE. 

